Various drawer guides are used in the cabinetry industry to allow sliding movement of drawers in and out of a cabinet. The drawer guides can be mounted over, under, or on the side of the drawer box. The drawer guides can be made of various materials, i.e. metal, wood or plastic. Drawer guides or slides can allow for partial or full extension of the drawer box from within the cabinet. A drawer slide typically consists of a guiding channel within which rollers mounted on the side of the drawer box are laterally retained, yet the rollers move freely along the channel. The rollers are attached to the case or drawer box using nails, screws or other attachment techniques.
In cabinetry wherein the side, front frame and rear walls are all interconnected forming a box or case, the drawer slide is normally attached to the front and the rear or back of the cabinet. The typical slide mounting procedure is to insert the drawer slide into a mating plastic or metal receptacle, and then attach the receptacle in some manner to the back of the cabinet. If the rear of the drawer slide has been attached to the cabinet back at the factory, a problem can arise thereafter during the installation of the cabinet if uneven or unsquare walls of the installation site pull the cabinet out of square. If the back or rear end of the drawer slide has no lateral movement or adjustment capability, then the drawer front will not properly fit flush against the front of the cabinet when the drawer is moved into the non-square cabinet along the drawer slides. If the rear mounting bracket for the drawer slide has no adjustment, or if the adjustments are made by removing screws or staples prior to relocating the bracket, then adjustments are cumbersome, difficult, and time consuming for the installer. Additionally, where a building foundation has settled and shifted from a relatively square configuration, misalignment of the cabinetry and adjoining drawer slides may also occur If this occurs, adjustment of the drawer slides is necessitated by the circumstances and, typically, the adjustment will require removal of screws or loosening of screws or removal of staples in order to realign the drawer slides. An additional consideration is that wear and tear from heavy and repeated use of the drawer slides may require further adjustment or replacement.
Still a further difficulty with existing bracket assemblies for drawer slides involves the difficulty of installation, wherein the drawer slide attachment and the wall or cabinetry back bracket must be installed simultaneously. A drawer slide rear bracket which consists of two parts, a rear bracket and a slide end bracket installable separately and then matably connected without tools, would simplify installation and improve manufacturing processes by reducing labor costs in the cabinetry industry.